As far as Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas (14-3 MMA, 4-0 BFC) is concerned, punching a friend in his face is just part of the duties of being an MMA fighter.

So, come Thursday in Bellator 89’s headliner, the titleholder plans to beat up friend and recent tournament winner Marcos Galvao (13-5-1 MMA, 4-2 BFC), and afterward, they can go back to being friends.

“This is the first time I’ll have to fight a friend,” Dantas told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We simply have do our our work. We have to set our friendship aside, do our work in the cage, and resume being friends after the fact.”

The 135-pounders headline Thursday’s card at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

The duo occasionally trains together at the highly regarded Nova Uniao camp in Brazil. However, both have stressed that their friendship won’t be affected by this week’s title fight, which initially was slated to take place in November at Bellator 79.

However, Dantas eventually was forced off that card. He was still recovering from an upset loss to Tyson Nam in August at Shooto Brazil 33. What was supposed to be a stay-busy non-title fight in his native Brazil turned disastrous after Nam stopped him a first-round punch in an action-packed 100 seconds.

Does the champ feel an urge to prove that loss, which took some of the luster off his Bellator title, was a fluke?

“I don’t put that kind of pressure on me,” he said. “I like to fight aggressively. These things can happen. It was Tyson’s day to win. He caught me with my mouth open.

“I just never saw that strike coming.”

Prior to the defeat, Dantas was firmly entrenched in the world’s top 10 for his division. However, this week’s fight likely will determine if the ranking is truly justified, or whether the Nam loss somehow exploited a whole in his often-aggressive game.

While Dantas would someday like a rematch, the 24-year-old isn’t dwelling on the defeat (which marked the first true stoppage loss of his career).

“I’m making sure that (type of loss) never happens again,” he said. “In the future, I’ll get him back.

“I would like to avenge that loss one day, but my objective now is another fighter. My objective is to defeat Galvao.”

Dantas, who defeated Zach Makovsky 10 months ago for the title, snapped a seven-fight win streak with the loss to Nam. Although he faces a tough-to-finish opponent in Galvao, he’s confident fans will see a retooled fighter on Thursday.

“I’m a new ‘DuDu’ now,” he said. “I’m more calm and more thoughtful. In 2013 I have something new to show. I’ll be more technical, more aggressive and more cold-blooded.”

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